La Pared
by Dreamer.abr.lif
Summary: AU - Regina Mills is an art director at an up and coming art gallery in New York. Her life is dedicated to her job, nothing makes her happier then a piece of art whatever the art may be. Emma Swan is an urban photographer looking for any way to make it. She moves to New York in the hope that Regina Mills' reputation for taking a chance will work for her.


**For a visual of the wall in Regina Mills' apartment have at my tumblr page (temptations-of-my-soul) under the ****fan fiction tab.**  
**Enjoy**

* * *

Regina Mill's walked into the lobby; her heals clicking on the floor with each step. She headed straight for the elevator, trying to get to the comfort of her own home as fast as possible

"Miss Mills? This package came in for you today." Regina stopped and turned toward the woman behind the desk. Her eyes lighting up slightly at the large package sitting on the front desk.

"It's here?" She asked slower her pace and changing her direction "Thank you Miss Lucas." The brunet picked up the painting shaped package with as much care as she could manage and began walking again.

"Are you sure you don't want any help with that?"

"No it's quite alright."  
Making it into the lift the brunet pressed the 5th floor button and leaned against the back wall. Her day, though long was suddenly looking that much brighter. As she walked down the hall to her apartment she made a mental list of everything she would have to go over tomorrow before her meeting. There were some things that would have to be done tonight, given the early hour the woman had to rise.

Fitting her key to the lock the brunet managed to maneuver herself and the painting inside and still look rather graceful. Regina placed her bag and keys down on the bench then carefully placed the painting down against the wall, still rapped up. She'd had the space on her wall ready for it the day the brunet has placed the order. It was going to fit perfectly next to her centerpiece; 'The Kiss' by Karen Windle, which she had obtained from her mother, which sat perfectly in the middle of her wall, an abstract to it's right and soon to be her new piece to it's left. Taking a deep breath Regina began to remove the wrapping from the painting, just as she had expected it still made her gasp, it was the eyes. The brunet raised the piece and placed it securely on the clip that had been sitting empty in her wall for a week now. Turning her back she walked toward her beautiful floor to ceiling view of the city that covered the back and sidewall to her left.

Regina Mills was a woman of effect, though some may have called this all over the top, she thought it was necessary. Every time a new piece of artwork was put up the woman refused to look until she was the right amount of distance away, making sure to create the perfect feeling. Turning once she stood firmly behind the couch the young woman gazed upon her new art work. Perfect. 'Charmed' was its name and the title fitted like a glove, the signature of Helena Wierzbicki was visible at the bottom. All three pieces on her wall complimented each other with a beautiful colour balance and flow; making the room feel alive.

Nodding in approval, Regina pored herself a class of cider to ease herself into the night. Just as she took her first sip a knock at the door interpreted her. Frowning, she put her drink down on the counter and went to answer; opening the door Regina was greeted with the sight of light blonde curls and breathtaking green eyes. The blonde frowned slightly after she caught sight of Regina,

"Ah." Pulling her eyebrows together she looked back down the hall at the numbers on the opposite door. "You're not Mary Margaret." She stated like it was actually surprising. Regina scoffed

"Thank goodness for that dear. She's the next one down the hall."

"Right, well… Sorry. Have a good night I guess." The blonde flashed a smile before picking up her suitcase and continuing to the next door. Regina shut her door just as she heard the excited cry of

"Emma!" Let out by her next-door neighbour. The brunet walked back to her class, praying this Emma wasn't unbearable like Mary Margret. Grabbing her tumbler and phone Regina opened her apartment up to the night air and stood on her balcony that overlooked the surrounding buildings. She pressed speed dial 1 and waited.

"Hello?"

"She's arrived."

"Really? What's it like? Does it work? Tell me it works."

"She's beautiful Kathryn. Completely beautiful."

"You sound like you're in love."

"I am."

"Well I'll have to come over and meet her then."

"You certainly do." Regina and Kathryn had their usual quick chat before the brunet was left to her own thoughts. Leaning on the balcony she drifted away in her mind, getting lost in the lights of New York. The sound of a chair being pulled back drew her attention to the neighbouring balcony. The blonde looked up from her chair when she saw Regina's head snap to attention out of the corner of her eye. Offering another smile the woman raised her wine glass in toast and waited for the brunet to do the same. Regina smirked; raising an eyebrow she slowly lifted her tumbler up before shaking her head and going back indoors.

Settling down in the leather couch with her laptop and dinner Regina decided to go straight to work. She still had to finalize multiple art works from different suppliers for their upcoming event, while also making sure the travel and storage arrangements for these pieces were in place. The first few would be arriving at the gallery tomorrow morning, in time for her to begin setting up after the meeting that would overview her plans and aims. It was a smaller event but important people were coming, the kind of people that could take this gallery and the people in it to a whole new level. Taking a mouthful of salad, she read the first of many emails she'd received since leaving her office and sighed, this was going to be a long night.

* * *

The soft tones of Regina's alarm pulled her lightly away from sleep. Groaning she buried her head under the dooner and tried to ignore it. All too soon the rather soothing alarm became loud and rather the opposite,

"Stupid alarm." Grumbling to herself, the woman reached for her phone and pushed herself away from the bed with a groan.

On the contrary to common believe Regina Mills was _not_ a morning person. Every single day that involved getting up early was a struggle. She'd simply been doing it so long that her body had adapted as much as possible. With the help of particularly good caffeine in large amounts and the repetition of 'I love my job, I love my job.' The brunet was able to arise every morning and get to work on time, looking like she rolled out of bed perfect.

Pouring the last of the coffee into a travel mug, Regina gathered up all of her things and headed out, she was going to be slightly early and there wasn't a better day for it. The brunet walked quickly through the fresh morning air toward her BMW, pulling her coat tightly around her as the wind threatened to blow it open. Sliding in and starting her beauty up, she gave it a rev making the corners of her mouth turn up. Another thing that was not common knowledge was Regina's love for her car and general appreciation for well-made vehicles. She did after all dedicate her life to artwork, just because it wasn't on the wall of a gallery didn't mean it wasn't art. That thought struck another and the brunet found herself wondering what she could create by actually putting cars and individual parts up on the walls of a gallery. These thoughts entertained her the whole drive to work before more pressing issues took over. As soon as she walked in the doors her assistant, Sydney was next to her filling the brunet in.

"Mr. Gold, Miss Noland and Mr. Charming are already here, we're waiting on Mr. Jones and Mr. Tiny to arrive for your 9 o'clock meeting. Mr. Gold has also asked to speak to you afterward. Lastly some of the art work has arrived and is awaiting your approval." Regina noticed the slight quiver in Sydney's voice

"Some?"

"Yes, well ah."

"Out with it Sydney."

"It seems one piece has been… Misplaced." Regina halted mid step and spun around to face her assistant.

"Misplaced?" She asked threateningly and was happy to see him gulp

"I'm sure it was just put in the wrong room. I will find it while you are in your meeting."

"You had better." Without another word Regina grabbed the papers he was holding and went to her office. Turning on her desktop she winced every time the message tone went off alerting her of a new email, it seemed endless. It was as if her computer was trying to spite her; just when she thought it was over and was about to let out a breath one last email came through. The brunet let out an annoyed growl and glared at the screen. Noting the time to be 8:30am she sat down and began gathering her notes and thoughts for the meeting.

* * *

Breathing a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the conference room. No one seemed to hate the planes for the event and that was about as good as it would ever get.

"Well-done Miss Mills. I'm afraid I have to be cancelling our meeting, more important issues have arisen."

"Thank you Mr. Gold. I do hope everything is alright."

"Of course dearie. Of course." Regina watched her boss hobble away, even though he relied on a cane so much for support, he still managed to strike a small amount of fear in her.

"Ah Regina?"

"Yes Sydney?"

"I take it the meeting went well?"

"I take it you found my 'misplaced' art work."

"Almost, I called the delivery man and he said he dropped them all off at storage and one was put slightly away from the others. It was probably just missed when they were picked up. I have someone down there now checking."

"Good."

"There's something else." The brunet sighed loudly; she really should have gone to bed earlier

"What Sydney? I really am busy."

"I know. There's a woman here insisting on seeing you."

"Do we know this woman's name?"

"Miss Swan. Emma Swan. She's a photographer." Regina's stomach jumped slightly at her recognition of the name Emma, but quickly schooled her features and scolded herself, there were far too many Emma's in this world for it to be the same one.

"I don't know that name so she clearly shouldn't be here."

"Yes I know, well I assumed. She want's to photograph the gallery."

"We have professional photographers for that."

"Yes, well I think she was hoping to be one of them… Particularly for the ah upcoming event."

"Mr. Glass. We have an approved set of photographers for out events. If she is interested in joining their team she should have gone to that department. In fact any department that is not me."

"I.. I know. I told her that, but she insisted."

"Then insist back." Regina could feel her anger rising and she suddenly found herself wondering why she'd ever found Sydney competent for this job.

"Regina I honestly think it would be better if she could just hear it from you."

"I don't care what you 'honestly think' I pay you to deal with this so I can do my job in peace."

"Regina Mills a presume?" A females voice interrupted the quickly heating argument. The brunet turned to yell at whoever it was, but stopped in her tracks when she found herself looking at blonde hair and green eyes, the same blonde hair and green eyes from last night. Only this time the woman wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a camera around her neck and carried a laptop bag. Regina was relieved to see the blonde looked just as startled when she recognized who she'd just interrupted.

"You're Regina Mills?"

"Yes, and you're Emma Swan."


End file.
